NBA Fantasy Lab

By Matt Satten, Dropping Dimes, Special to SI.com

Tyrus Thomas' inconsistency has driven many a fantasy owner to ban the Bulls big man ftom future fantasy rosters. AP

Week to week, the Fantasy Lab delves deep into fantasy basketball analysis in order to help you win your league. The syllabus for this week and next week will be a departure from the hardcore fantasy analysis and will instead focus on inserting a little more fun into your fantasy basketball experience.

We all know the basic terms by now, but how in depth is your fantasy basketball vocabulary? If you're new to the game or are a seasoned vet, we all could benefit from a look at the Fantasy Basketball Glossary prepared below. The Lab rarely uses some of the terms below to avoid possible confusion, but it's high time we all got on the same page and started making some of these terms more universal. With that in mind, here is the first half of the glossary, arranged alphabetically:

Accidental accept: To unintentionally accept a trade offer when evaluating the deal by clicking on the "Accept" button instead of the "Reject" button. If this happens, it may result in the commissioner having to step in to correct the "mistake" (sometimes they don't seem so accidental) lest an all out war breaks out on the message board, causing at least one member to threaten to quit. Note: You are allowed a max of one accidental accept in your life.

"David proposed three lopsided trades to me for Chris Paul last night. I don't know what he was thinking unless he was hoping for the accidental accept. I'm never making that mistake again."

Banned list: A list of players who will never (again) grace your fantasy roster. Players can be banned for a variety of reasons, often nonsensical, although it's usually because they've greatly wronged the owner in a past fantasy season.

"I can't take Tyrus Thomas' inconsistency anymore; he's killing my team. I'm cutting him tonight and he's officially going on my banned list along with those other stiffs. Yeah, I'm talking about you, Stromile, Eddy Curry and Jason Kidd."

Benching:

a. Accidental bench -- In daily transaction leagues, it's the fancy name for leaving someone on your bench by accident when you have an available starting spot. More commonly known as "not setting your lineup."

"Keith, that was the second time this week you didn't set your lineup!"
"Relax man, it was just an accidental bench. I won't do it again. Besides, I'm winning the week 6-3 right now."

b. Sunday benching -- Purposely removing one or more players from your starting lineup on Sunday in daily transaction leagues in order to preserve a category win in the percentages or turnovers. By not starting any players, you freeze your team's totals as is, not allowing the opponent to pass you in turnovers, and playing to your advantage in the percentages.

"Are you going to do any Sunday benching today?"
"It depends on the results of the matinee game. Why does Toronto always play on Sunday afternoon at 12:30 p.m.? It makes no sense. All the players are hungover and the game is always so ugly. But if Andrea Bargnani turns the ball over three times or more, I'm going to win turnovers if I bench Kobe tonight.

Blown assist: What you scream out loud when one of your players is about to get an assist but the teammate he passed the ball to misses the shot or fumbles the pass.

Announcer: "Andre Miller passes to Iguodala for the three-point attempt ..." Clank!
You: "Blown assist! Iggy can't hit a three to save his life!"

Core 3: The three players you've built your team around. They're not necessarily the best players on your team (though they usually are) but they are the most indispensable. You can usually judge how good a team is not by looking at just their top player but by looking at their Core 3.

"Coming out of the auction, I didn't think much of Zach's Core 3, especially with the roster Ryan assembled, but Danny Granger, Amare Stoudemire and Jose Calderon are laying the smackdown on the league right now. He's got every category covered."

Counting categories: The traditional categories where you add up the totals: points, rebounds, assists, blocks, steals and threes. The non-counting categories would be the percentages and turnovers.

"I'm probably going to win most of the counting categories this week because my team has eight more games than Josh's team does, but I'm worried about the percentages. Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson and Earl Watson and aren't exactly sharpshooters."

Dirkilicious: Similarly delicious to Fergalicious, but with Dirk Nowitzki and his sweet, sweet percentages. May also be considered "Redirkulous" in some instances.

DNP-CD: Stands for "Did not play -- coach's decision." When you have more players available to play than you do starting spots, this is the term you use for the guys you put on the bench.

"Even though he was playing the Warriors, I had to give Spencer Hawes a DNP-CD last night. There just wasn't room to start him with my loaded roster."

Donation: Entry fee from a perennially bad team.

"Don't get me wrong, Scott's a great guy, but he's never going to win the league."
"What do you care? This way, he makes his donation and stays in touch with all his college buddies throughout the season."

Double-dip or Triple-dip: A double-double or a triple-double. It can be used as a noun or a verb. Double-dipping has nothing to do with chips and the Seinfeld episode.

"Brook Lopez went double-dipping last night for the fifth time in his last six games."